Translation system

Abstract

The invention provides techniques for translation of messages in one language to another. A translation system may receive the messages in spoken form. A message may be transmitted to a server, which translates the message, and may generate the translation in audio form. When the server identifies an ambiguity in the course of translation, the server may interrogate a party to the conversation about an identified ambiguity. By receiving a response to the interrogation, the server may generate a translation that more accurately conveys the meaning that the party wished to convey. A user may customize the translation system in a number of ways, including by specification of a dictionary sequence.

1 . A method comprising: 
 receiving a message in a first language from a user;    interrogating the user about an aspect of the message;    translating the message to a second language based at least in part on the interrogation.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 identifying an ambiguity in the message; and    interrogating the user about the ambiguity.    
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein receiving the first message comprises receiving an audio message.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising recognizing words in the audio message.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising receiving a response from the user to the interrogation.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising translating the message to a second language as a function of the response.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein translating the message to the second language comprises generating an audio stream.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising storing the response in memory.  
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising: 
 receiving a second message in the first language from the user;    translating the second message to a second language based at least in part on the response.    
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the message is a first message, and wherein the first message is one of an audio message and a written message, the method further comprising: 
 receiving a second message in the first language from a user, wherein the second message is the other of an audio message and a written message; and    translating the second message to the second language.    
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising translating the second message to the second language based at least in part on the interrogation.  
     
     
         12 . A system comprising: 
 a translation engine that translates a message in a first language to a second language; and    a controller that interrogates a user when the translation engine identifies an ambiguity when translating the message in the first language to a second language.    
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the message is a spoken message, the system further comprising a voice recognizer that recognizes the message spoken in the first language.  
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , further comprising a voice identifier that identifies the voice speaking the spoken message.  
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the voice recognizer parses the message spoken in the first language into subsets comprising at least one of words, phrases and clauses.  
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the voice recognizer transmits the subsets of the message to the translation engine.  
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 15 , further comprising memory that stores the subsets of the message as a transcript.  
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 12 , further comprising a speech synthesizer that converts the message in the second language to an audio stream.  
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 12 , further comprising memory that stores a transcript of the message.  
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the controller interrogates the user about an aspect of the message and wherein the translation engine translates the message to the second language based at least in part on the interrogation.  
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 20 , wherein the controller identifies an ambiguity in the message and interrogates the user about the ambiguity.  
     
     
         22 . A method comprising: 
 receiving a first audio message in a first language;    translating the first message to a second language;    generating a first audio stream as a function of the first message in the second language;    receiving a second audio message in the second language;    translating the second message to the first language;    generating a second audio stream as a function of the second message in the first language; and    storing a transcript comprising the first message and the second message in at least one of the first language and the second language.    
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 22 , further comprising: 
 generating an interrogation;    receiving a response to the interrogation; and    translating the first message to the second language as a function of the response.    
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 23 , further comprising: 
 identifying an ambiguity in the first message; and    generating an interrogation as a function of the ambiguity.    
     
     
         25 . A method comprising: 
 receiving a first language specified by a user;    receiving a second language specified by the user; and    selecting a translation engine file as a function of at least one of the first language and the second language.    
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 25 , further comprising: 
 interrogating the user;    receiving a response to the interrogation; and    selecting a translation engine file as a function of the response.    
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 25 , further comprising launching the translation engine file.  
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 25 , further comprising: 
 selecting a driver for voice recognizer as a function of at least one of the first language and the second language; and    launching the driver.    
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 25 , further comprising: 
 selecting a driver for a speech synthesizer as a function of at least one of the first language and the second language; and    launching the driver.    
     
     
         30 . A system comprising: 
 a database storing a plurality of translation engine files; and    a controller that selects a translation engine file from the plurality of translation engine files.    
     
     
         31 . The system of  claim 30 , wherein the controller receives a first language specified by a user and a second language specified by the user, and selects the translation engine file as a function of the first and second languages.  
     
     
         32 . The system of  claim 30 , wherein the database further stores a plurality of special dictionaries, and wherein the controller selects at least one special dictionary from the plurality of special dictionaries.  
     
     
         33 . The system of  claim 30 , further comprising an interrogation interface that transmits interrogations to a user.  
     
     
         34 . A method comprising: 
 translating a first portion of a first message in a first language to a second language;    identifying an ambiguity in the first message;    interrogating a user about the ambiguity;    receiving a response to the interrogation;    translating a second portion of the first message to the second language as a function of the response; and    translating a second message in the first language to a second language as a function of the response.    
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 34 , further comprising storing the identification of the ambiguity and the response in memory.  
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 35 , further comprising: 
 identifying a second ambiguity in the second message;    searching the memory for previous identifications of the second ambiguity.    
     
     
         37 . A method comprising: 
 receiving a dictionary sequence from a user comprising a first dictionary and a second dictionary;    receiving a message in a first language;    parsing the message into subsets in the first language comprising at least one of words, phrases and clauses;    searching the first dictionary for subsets in a second language that correspond to the subsets in the first language; and    thereafter searching the second dictionary for subsets in the second language that correspond to the subsets in the first language.    
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 37 , wherein the dictionary sequence further comprises a third dictionary, the method further comprising thereafter searching the third dictionary for subsets in the second language that correspond to the subsets in the first language.  
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 37 , further comprising: 
 finding a first subset in the second language in one of the first dictionary and the second dictionary;    finding a second subset in the second language in one of the first dictionary and the second dictionary;    interrogating the user about which of the first subset and the second subset should be used;    receiving a response to the interrogation; and    translating the message to the second language as a function of the response.    
     
     
         40 . A method comprising: 
 receiving an audio message in a first language;    recognizing the audio message;    storing the recognized audio message in memory;    detecting a pause in the audio message; and    upon detecting the pause, translating the recognized audio message in memory to a second language.    
     
     
         41 . The method of  claim 40 , further comprising: 
 generating an interrogation;    receiving a response to the interrogation; and    translating the first message to the second language as a function of the response.